Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Two tough guys with hearts of gold…

Robotman- Thing

These two were initially discussed in January, but merit further alternate history-style exposition.

Alternate histories:

RM: Cliff Steele grows up poor in a major metropolitan city: he enters college, where he befriends Steve Dayton and becomes a football star. Steele then embarks on a career driving experimental automobiles: it is around this time that he, Dayton, Rita Farr and Larry Trainor are struck by certain cosmic energy, and resolve to operate as the Doom Patrol. Steele is transformed into a super-strong robotic creature, and consents to be referred to as Robotman, although he frequently despairs that he is less than human. Robotman is a mainstay of the Doom Patrol, although he is one of the best liked operatives in the superhuman community and works with others very often.

TH: Ben Grimm is a test pilot whose body is all but destroyed after his plane crashes. His body is then mutated into a monstrous, super-strong rock-like form by Charles Xavier in order to save his life. While Grimm accepts the codename the Thing, and becomes a charter member of the Fantastic Four, he frequently despairs that he is less than human. When the Fantastic Four are allegedly killed after volunteering to sacrifice their lives to save innocents, the Thing enters suspended animation; upon revival, he leads newer iterations of the Fantastic Four.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

the Avengers International, 1987

This is what the initial lineup of the post-Detroit, "bwah-hah-hah" version of the Avengers would be…

Captain America
Silver Surfer
Mockingbird
Dr. Strange
Spider-man
Guardsman
Quasar
Starfox
Pulsar/Captain Marvel
joined later by:
Longshot
Wonder Man
Firebird

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

One character gave the english speaking world an exclamation; the other gave nerds continuity porn

Captain Marvel- Quasar/Marvel Man

The other day, while looking around for info on the second character named above, I happened upon a message board posting where some nerd was talking about how much he liked Quasar, a “cosmic” hero that kicked around without much notice until he starred in what I gather was a highly wonky series penned by Mark Gruenwald and which ran from the late ‘80s to the mid ‘90s (this was the time I was not reading funnee books) .

In the Image era to which the series yielded, said the poster, every character grimaces while he blows villains heads off. Whereas Quasar is a noble young man who tries to do the right thing. To which another poster, evincing the cheap scorn some nerds on the internet indulge in so as to create a geek pecking order, sneered “every character, no matter how lame, is someone’s favorite.”

Apparently, Gruenwald saw Quasar as an “everyman” character who would explore the cosmic byways of the MU in a different, more wide-eyed manner than, say, the Silver Surfer. I liked Gruenwald’s Captain America and enjoy superhero wonkiness, so I’d like to check the series out one day.

So of course, a character known only to earnest goofballs will be paired with a hero who frequently outsold the Superman books in the 1940s and early ‘50s; provoked a lawsuit from DC Comics against the character’s publisher Fawcett Publications over a reasonable similarity to Superman; ceased publication and saw its copyright languish so that other publishers could use the name; gave Gomer Pyle his favorite exclamation; and was finally purchased by DC and fully integrated into its fictional diaspora. Most importantly, Captain Marvel is probably better known than any DC character save Superman, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman.

The fanciful mythos common to the Big Red Cheeses probably doesn’t work past the 1940s: talking tigers and worms are best left in the past. But Captain Marvel worked well for about 25 years as a wish-fulfillment of many kids who read comic books before (and to a lesser extent after) the Stan and Jack revolution. Now he’s taken the wizard Shazam’s place as a mystical vizier, or somesuch other dumb shit.

Commonalities:
It’s the sense that both are essentially decent young fellows charged with great powers by ancient beings.

Differences:
Ostensibly, Quasar’s abilities to create energy constructs with his quantum bands, not to mention his relative youth and his cosmic bailiwick, would line up with Kyle Rayner. And Roy Thomas linked Rick Jones to Mar-Vell as an explicit nod to his namesake.

Alternate histories:

CM: Billy Batson is a rookie operative at a government agency who acquires an artifact once used by a that grants him immense strength, stamina and control of mystical thunderbolts. After a few years as the novice hero Captain Marvel, he travels into space and discovers that the artifact is a remnant of a offshoot civilization of “New Gods,” and that he has been chosen by the alien wizard Shazam to succeed the deceased Hawkman as a guardian of the “rock of eternity.” While he joins the Justice League for a short time, Captain Marvel spends most of his time opposing menaces throughout the cosmos; he apparently has been revived in a quasi-spectral state after he was thought to have been killed by an extraterrestrial antagonist.

QU: Teenager Wendell Vaughn encounters Eon, an omniscient creature who grants him various “quantum” abilities, which he henceforth accesses by transforming into adult form. Using the name Marvel Man and then Quasar, Vaughn is one of the few superhumans who can credibly challenge the Mighty Thor. During stints with the Avengers and the Liberty Legion, many colleagues, unaware that he’s truly an adolescent, note his naive demeanor. After a cosmic conflagration, Quasar has taken the place of the slain Eon as a universal guardian granted with “cosmic awareness.”

Saturday, November 15, 2008

One's an absolute creep… the other? Dunno

Green Lantern/Warrior (Guy Gardner)- Guardsman (Michael O’Brien)

I cannot tell how Guy Gardner was initially characterized when he first appeared in the Green Lantern books in the late ‘60s and 1970s. But Keith Giffen and J.M DeMatteis decided that he would come forth as the DCU’s biggest, non-villainous asshole when they took over the Justice League franchise in 1987. And that has been the way Gardner’s been played since, often humorously, which suits me fine.

The Guardsman? Don’t remember a goddamn thing other than he worked closely with Tony Stark after antagonizing him, wore an armor similar to Iron Man's and had red hair. All of which will do the trick for me.

Commonalities:
Both are alternates and antagonists for the main character in their respective franchises, with identical M.O.s.

Differences:
I don’t remember anything about whether the Guardsman was a jerk or not.

Alternate histories:

GG/GL: Policeman Guy Gardner is distressed when his insane brother perishes in battle with Green Lantern (Hal Jordan); he incorrectly believes that Jordan killed the elder Gardner. He appropriates the same power ring his brother used and attacks Jordan. But Gardner reconciles with Jordan, and the latter hires the former to provide security at Ferris Aircraft. Gardner masters the alternate power ring, and eventually becomes head of security at S.T.A.R. Labs.

GU/MO: Michael O’Brien is an aggressive young man who, while practicing social work, is nearly picked by the Watchers to become their representative on Earth. Instead, the Watchers select Tony Stark, and O’Brien becomes their alternate representative, despite his resentment towards Stark and virtually everyone he encounters. When Stark is displaced, O’Brien becomes the Guardsman, the only individual on Earth to wear the Nova Corps armor, and joins the Avengers. His sociopathic behavior increases, and he is disliked by most of his teammates intensely. The Guardsman has continued his association with the Nova Corps since Stark’s return.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Women in Refrigerators, Part II

Batgirl/Oracle - Hellcat

Imagine if Betty Cooper, Archie Andrew’s heartthrob, was re-imagined as a full-fledged super heroine. That’s what befell Patsy Walker, a character published continuously in various teen romance titles by Timely/Marvel from 1944 to 1967, which is more than we can say for Captain America, the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch.

Walker was said to have becomes disenchanted with her marriage to longtime boyfriend Robert Buzz Baxter: she became Hellcat, and of course Baxter goes nuts and is eventually transformed into the super villain Mad Dog. It’s as if Jughead turned into the Punisher. Hellcat was an appealing character in the Defenders in the 1970s and ‘80s, but unsurprisingly was shown to have lost her mind after marrying the Son of Satan and then to have been consigned to eternal damnation. Which of course didn’t last —she’s running around the land of the living again.

Barbara Gordon is a much more substantial character. She was created in the DCU to line up the with the Yvonne Craig character Batgirl in the 1960s Batman tv program: she is therefore known to a greater amount of non-fanboys than, say, Black Canary. Gordon was a fixture of the DCU in the 1970s and early ‘80s.

But in the 1980s, perhaps Batgirl was increasingly viewed as a relic. So Alan Moore’s Killing Joke story depicted Gordon being shot in the stomach by the Joker, so as to break the spirit of her father, Commissioner Gordon. The story was not intended as canon, but her brutal incapacitation stuck, and it remains the most vivid example of the Women in Refrigerators syndrome: the debate regarding this turn of events rages on to this day.

But writers Kim Yale and John Ostrander resolved to have Gordon turn lemons into lemonade; she has since become Oracle, the DCU’s premiere information broker. I suppose that’s a good outcome, but the tendency among comic book writers to mutilate female characters remains troubling.

Commonalities:
Redhead teenage characters turned crimefighters turned survivors of horrific calamities.

Differences:
Walker is not a super-genius, and has bounced back from a dreadful setback. Gordon has not, but is shown to have risen above ghastly circumstances to a preeminent position in her respective diaspora.

Alternate histories:

BG/OR: Barbara Gordon becomes dissatisfied with her conventional marriage; she encounters the Elongated Man, and dons a quasi-mystically uniform that enhances her already impressive athleticism. Taking the codename Batgirl, Gordon assists the Justice League on a number of missions before joining the Outsiders for a extended term. She marries noted demonspawn John Constantine, Hellblazer, and is eventually driven insane and is subsequently trapped in “Hell.” Gordon has recently returned to the realm of the living and has taken up the guise of Batgirl again.

HC: Patsy Walker is inspired by Captain America to hone her mental and physical abilities to peak conditions: she assumes the codename Hellcat, and assists the Captain and many other superhuman operatives. But Walker was crippled via an encounter with the Green Goblin, and has since become the preeminent information broker in the superhuman community. She also coordinates the Daughters of the Dragon network.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

They are the Gods of Hellfire! And they bring you FI-YAH!!!

Demon - Ghost Rider

I always thought the second character cited could have been named “the Phantom Rider,” or something else, since he’s not a ghost. But the Ghost Rider was one of Marvel’s bigger successes in the 1970s: the Comics Code allowed horror and occult imagery around that time again after 20 or so years of post Wertham pressure. Haven’t see the movie yet.

And apparently, there’s some debate as to whether the Demon, one of of Jack Kirby’s enduring creations for DC in the '70s, should always speak in rhyme. Of course he should!

Commonalities:
Vengeful, horrifying creatures from hell bent on dispatching the souls of bad folks to eternal damnation, bonded to human personas! And both often erupt hellfire! Fuck yeah!

Differences:
Blood did not preexist as a man prior to his creation as a corrective to the Demon’s excesses. Whereas Blaze was a real dude. And while the Demon no ridey motorbike, Ghost Rider no speak in rhyme.

Alternate histories:

DE: The Demon Etrigan falls afoul of Neron, the most powerful demonic figure in the netherworld. Neron punishes Etrigan by bonding the Demon to the body of Jason Blood, a man who “sells his soul” to save a colleague’s life. Thereafter, Blood wanders the United States and transforms into the Demon whenever confronted with evildoers. But Blood can only sporadically control the Demon.

GR: Zarathos is a demon who is summoned by the wizard Merlin to defend ancient England from evildoers: afterwards, the creature is neutralized when the wizard creates a human aspect, John Blaze, who acts as its conscience. Blaze survives for centuries, and in the current day can only sporadically control the creature, known colloquially as the Ghost Rider, during its never-ending mission to send the wicked to their fates.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Gaudy dudes, went out with a bang

Firestorm - Jack of Hearts

While I think I bought the 1984 mini-series devoted to the character, I recollect virtually nothing regarding how Jack of Hearts was characterized in the 1980s. But I can say that the character’s costume is so complicated and intricate that it’s notorious as the one many comic book artists least enjoy drawing.

But I collected the second volume of Firestorm in the 1980s: I remember that Pat Broderick’s art was pretty, and that the series focused on Ronnie Raymond’s Spider-man-esque teenage exploits, and very little else. Now I see that in the late 80s the character was used to make heavy-handed comments on the arms race, and then was made to be a fire elemental, followed by somesuch other cosmic claptrap.

Commonalities:
Young dudes with very striking costumes who have recently died via spectacular explosions.

Differences:
Firestorm’s matter transmuting powers are much, much more substantial, and is a composite of two humans. Whereas Jack of Hearts was shown to be half-alien somewhere along the line.

Alternate histories:

FS: A young Ronnie Raymond is exposed to a nuclear substance created by his father that imbues him with matter-transmuting powers and alters his appearance: his eyes become opaque and his hair takes a form similar to fire. Taking the codename Firestorm, he apprentices with the likes of Green Lantern, and later discovers that he is half-alien. After spending some time spacefaring, Firestorm returns to Earth and joins the Justice League, only to commit suicide via explosion shortly afterwards.

JH: A teenage Jack Hart and a scientist are exposed to a “zero-fluid” that fuses them into one being that can expel concussive force beams; the left half of the body takes on a purplish hue. Taking the codename Jack of Hearts, the being works as a novice superhuman operative before joining the Justice League. After an extended period as a quasi-mystical figure and as a space-farer, the Jack of Hearts persona becomes wholly composed and controlled by Hart. He is killed in combat, but the mantle of Jack of Hearts has been passed to another individual.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

The Avengers Unlimited

Here's how the lineup from 2001-2004 season of the Bruce Timm's Justice League program —in my view the best superhero tv program ever made— would look with the shoe on the other foot.

Thor
Captain America
Thundra
Iron Man (James Rhodes)
Iceman
Silver Surfer
Ms. Marvel (Una, a Kree warrior on Earth)

assisted in some episodes by Sub-Mariner, Ghost Rider, Sandman, the Eternals, Dr. Strange

The Justice League: United They Stand

I saw the Avengers: United They Stand animated program only a few times, and about five years after its exceedingly brief run on the Fox Network in 1999-2000. The show is not very good: not only does it suffer tremendously in comparison to Bruce Timm's nearly contemporaneous Justice League/ Justice League Unlimited program, but will likely be further erased from existence by the time Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon hits the air in 2011, not to mention the big time Hollywood iteration due around that time.

Anyway, this is how the Kounterparted lineup from the 1999-2000 show would look: kinda puny, huh?

Atom
Insect Queen
Green Arrow
Captain Atom
Zatanna
Vixen
Black Lightning
Red Tornado

-assisted on a few episodes by Batman, Green Lantern and Aquaman.

Time wounds these heels only temporarily

Vandal Savage - Kang/Immortus/Pharaoh Rama-Tut /Scarlet Centurion

The second bad guy cited shows the lengths to which Marvel writers in the 70s loved to link characters that had been conceived separately. Kang, Pharaoh Rama-Tut, Immortus and the Scarlet Centurion were initially separate characters, but the likes of Steve Engelhart resolved to make each one entity. This resulted in a thicket of impenetrable ret-cons.

Vandal Savage’s history is relatively streamlined: a caveman becomes immortal and is an implacable antagonist throughout human history. Easy, peasy!

Commonalities

Immortal warlords!

Differences:
Kang originates in the distant future, and a couple of his incarnations have been shown to be benevolent. Whereas Savage is pretty much a nasty son of a bitch.

Alternate histories:

VS: A man from a distant future timeline discovers time travel technology and travels back into the planet Earth’s antiquity. Assuming various identities —Vandal Savage, Epoch, the Lord of Time— he attempts to subjugate not only humanity but all life in the universe. while some of his personas from diverging timelines have been benevolent. Savage has been opposed by the Justice League on numerous occasions.

KA: A early man living in the Paleolithic Age is bathed in the radiation of a meteorite, and is thus rendered immortal. Throughout the ages, the man assumes a number of identities —Pharoah Rama-Tut, Kang, the Scarlet Centurion, Immortus— and rules a number of civilizations in antiquity, as well as assisting various tyrants. In the modern age, Kang has opposed by the Liberty Legion and the Avengers.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

And I think it's gonna be a long long time, til touch down brings me round again to find, I'm not the man they think I am at home

Adam Strange- Peter Quill, Star Lord

Peter Quill? A Marvel sci-fi character created in the 1970s by Steve Englehart, a writer I like a lot, and one I only dimly remember from my collecting days. Quill has been revived in the Annihilation series , a huge space opera running concurrent to Secret Invasion and Civil War and so on.

But Adam Strange is emblematic of the science fiction books that DC focused on immediately prior to the super-hero revival in the late ‘50s: the character was clearly modeled on Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter of Mars and was introduced in the wake of the “new look” Flash. Strange has since been used in the 1960s onwards as an occasional ally of the Justice League and was reimagined by Alan Moore as an, ahem, stud to the sterile race native to the planet Rann —can’t tell if that bit is in continuity these days.

Commonalities:
Both are essentially earthlings who find their destiny offworld.

Differences:
As far as I can tell, Quill begins as an antisocial asshole and becomes noble once he embraces his destiny, whereas Strange is your typical upstanding citizen common to Silver Age DC.

Alternate histories:

AS: A troubled young man, Adam Strange trains to be an astronaut, but is passed over for a mission. After stowing away on a spaceship, he learns that he is half-alien; his earthling mother had an encounter with a humanoid from the planet Rann. He then accepts his heritage and then travels through the cosmos combatting various antagonists. In the aftermath of a massive interstellar conflagration, Strange has recently formed a modern day iteration of the Legion of Super Heroes.

PQ: Peter Quill is an earthling explorer who is transferred via teleportation to the planet Spartax, where he meets and falls in love with a native female humanoid. He is spirited from one planet to the other for a number of years, but Quill eventually remains on Spartax as its champion, often defending its populace against longtime antagonists the Kree and working with the Avengers from time to time.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The disco mutant and the supermodel telepath

Looker- Dazzler

Why am I not surprised that, when Marvel was to collaborate on a character with Casablanca Records in 1979, the result involved a musical genre that was already then (and unjustly) considered a national joke? Marvel should have positioned Dazzler as a new wave singer, huh?

As for Looker, she was the creation of Mike W. Barr, a writer most fanboys underrate. Looker was a mousy young librarian with a husband who loved her: as soon as she transformed into a hawt piece of ass, the husband was outta there. This led to Barr making lots of obvious but still useful points regarding how “beauty is only skin deep.”

Commonalities:
Good looking broads, involved in glamourous day jobs: i.e. the kind of woman comic creators and fanboys generally will never get within 100 miles of.

Differences:
Looker has the full complement of psionic abilities: telepathy, telekinesis, etc etc. Dazzler can turn sound into light, which apparently comic creators were able to turn into a useful offense.

Alternate histories:

LO: Emily “Lia” Briggs is an aspiring model who discovers latent psionic abilities in her late teens; taking the alias Looker, she at first assists the Teen Titans, but declines membership in favor of her career. She nonetheless finds herself dragged into superhuman affairs at the expense of her modeling career; Looker eventually joins the Titans, where she meets and marries Booster Gold, with whom she travels to his native future timeline. She recently has returned to the Titans.

DA: Alison Blaire discovers a latent ability to transfer sound into light, and additionally transforms from a “mousy” appearance into an conventionally attractive aspect. As Dazzler, she joins Captain America’s Defenders, but later becomes a vampire. Her current exploits suggest that she is foregoing the traditionally nefarious tendencies common to vampires and continues to act as a force for good.